From the pages of Canadian Railway Modeller: Morgan Turney, in his own words

  Remember hobby shops? Time was every major city had more than one. Winnipeg, where I live, had five at one time. Now only one remains, having opened up a few years ago. (Thanks, Frog and Diamond!) In this Dome Car, I take a nostalgic journey to some of the hobby shops that meant a lot to me as I got started in the hobby. This includes the time I spent $50 to buy a locomotive and five or six pieces of rolling stock. Talk about days gone by!   The closing of Hall's Hobby House in Dallas, Texas in December got me thinking about how people get started in model railroading.   For me, Hall's was the place where I returned to the hobby, after an absence of ten years.   Like many model railroaders my age (I'm 45), I got my start in the hobby with the proverbial Lionel train set. That was followed by a hand-me-down Triang set, which was followed by HO scale and, finally, by N scale. That N scale layout was sold to help finance my university education when I was 19; it...

  The 9/11 attacks in September, 2001 put things into perspective for a lot of people—including Morgan. How can we focus on a mere hobby like model railroading when a tragedy like that happens and affects so many lives? That’s the question he sought to answer in this Dome Car. He suggested that it is exactly at a time like that when hobbies are most needed—to help us find time away from the suffering and tragedy that threatens to overwhelm us and harm our mental health.   Life for many people has changed as a result of the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington. Things that once seemed important now seem trivial or inconsequential. Family, health, friendships—these are emerging as the most highly-prized things that people can have and hold on to.   But what about model railroading? Things like hobbies might seem trivial now. How can we even think about spending time and money on a hobby when so many people have been affected by this tragedy?   On the o...

  Wouldn’t it be great to see working steam in southern Ontario? That was the goal of the Toronto Steam Committee back in 2000. I wrote about it back then in CRM. Alas, it didn’t pan out , reportedly due to factors such as railway liability and insurance requirements, higher operating and maintenance costs for certified steam locomotives, limited access to mainline trackage from CN and CP, and increasingly complex boiler and safety regulations—and lack of funding. But it still would have been something to see! In this Dome Car I also note the passing of railway photographer Lawrence Stucky, who chronicled trains on the prairies. And who remembers that Toronto once bid for the Olympics? Not me. Toronto didn't get the Olympics, but it may get a working steam locomotive. That is, if a small group called the Toronto Steam Committee (TSC) has its way.   The goal of the TSC, which began as an e mail forum on Yahoo!, is to explore the possibility of restoring a large Canadian mai...

  Morgan is chuffed with this tenth anniversary issue—as he should be! Running any small business is hard, and CRM was no exception. Between dealing with the post office, the printer and recalcitrant advertisers who didn’t pay on time, he had lots to keep him going and cause him anxiety. But he believed in it, and he stuck with it—and subscribers stuck with him. And the magazine made a difference for Canadian model railroaders, as he noted. At the very end of this Dome Car, he wonders what he will write for the twentieth anniversary; unfortunately, CRM never made it that far. But we have some great memories!   If you're like me, maybe you looked at this issue's cover and said: "Has it really been ten full years since this magazine started?" Boy, how time flies when you're havin' fun, eh?   Yes, this is the tenth anniversary issue of Canada's model train magazine. And, despite the usual trials and tribulations of running a small business, it has bee...

  This Dome Car underscores how far the hobby has come, what with an announcement of new Canadian rolling stock and locomotives we all take for granted these days. Along with that, Morgan says there will soon be an article about how to kitbash a GMD-1. He goes on to say that readers shouldn't expect a commercially available plastic GMD-1 any time soon. He was right; the first plastic model of that iconic locomotive came out from Rapido in 2017. And this is my first cover shot, of a VIA unit emerging from a tunnel on my former CP Rail Manitoba & Minnesota Sub.   As I look outside today, the snow is gone—finally! Unless, of course, you live in Newfoundland; they'll have the white stuff well into June! That will suit one of our contributors though, just fine. Steve Vallis says that as long as the snow is on the ground, he doesn't have to do yard work and can spend more time getting his layout finished!   But for the rest of us, spring usually means another new begin...

  The previous issue, with its feature article about Dave Winter’s G scale layout, prompted a lot of feedback about that scale—something Morgan notes in this Dome Car. And he also notes that CRM is coming near the end of its tenth year, which he is looking forward to celebrating. One thing that caught him by surprise was the number of subscribers from other countries who model Canadian railways. That was unexpected! We were able to feature a couple of them in the magazine.   We had some very positive feedback to the article about Dave Winter's G scale layout in Train 10 Track 3. It seems there are a lot more G scalers out there than we had anticipated. One fellow called to tell me that the entire back yard of his home is one great big outdoor layout. Now that would be something to see! He told me that it frees up his basement, something his wife is happy about.   It's not surprising that outdoor railroading is so popular. The nice thing about it is that it gets one ou...